Motorists can afford to pay more and fuel prices should go up, according to a report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

No, seriously that’s what it says!

The report says raising the cost of private motoring would bring economic, health and social benefits and the Chancellor should press ahead with the fuel duty rise scheduled for Jan 1. (Happy New Year, everybody!)

Petrol and diesel prices have risen across the UK by around 2.5 percent in the past month alone and oil prices on the global market are continuing to be pushed up.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee admitted back in March that any worsening of the underlying tensions in the Middle East could have significant implications for future oil prices. Then there’s tropical storm Isaac currently battering the west coast of Louisiana which has forced about 78 percent of crude oil production and 48 percent of natural gas production in the region to be shut down and could potentially further push up fuel prices.

But, the IPPR is pressing ahead with its assertion that in real terms the cost of motoring hasn’t increased “as much as rail and bus users who have seen fares spiral out of control”. So, the IPPR’s logic is that because public transport is a massive rip off, motorists are fair game to be just largely ripped off – ludicrous!

Importantly the IPPR report ignores commercial motoring which is suffering the most from these unsustainable levels of fuel duty which are actively damaging the UK economy.

In the CEBR report commissioned by FairFuelUK earlier this year, the findings suggest a 2.5 pence reduction in fuel duty would result in the creation of thousands of jobs and would not result in any fiscal loss to the Government.

Do you know what’s even crazier? Even the French Government has realised high fuel is counterproductive and has announced extensive measures to lower the price of fuel which is at a record 1.46 Euros. (That’s 115p per litre – those were the good days, when fuel was just 115p per litre!)

Our Government needs to listen to the pleas of UK motorists who are struggling to keep their cars on the road; to commercial motorists who are being undercut by foreign drivers travelling on cheaper fuel from the continent; and the Government needs to take a look at France which is recognising the damage high fuel prices are doing to its economy.